calling all music people...anyone out there?

[ozmusicbird]

So...anyone out there from composition, ethnomusicology, musicology/music history, music theory... performance? There must be... there are posts in the results page to suggest that it is so! So... kindly unveil yourself - I feel so alone! (It doesn't help that I live in the middle of nowhere in a country once described by a conductor as having "less culture than a single tub of yoghurt" !!!)

[Minnesotan]

I moved this one to Arts, so you might get a better response. Humanities would be a tough sell for music, and ethnomusicology et al. are more likely social sciences.

[ozmusicbird]

Ah, thanks Minnesotan - although musicology/music theory have ALWAYS been in humanities "divisions"/departments or whatever at universities, both here and abroad. Ethno, I agree is another matter! Ditto Performance, composition etc. Hopefully someone will be floating around and find me in 'arts'.

cheers!

[MusicalFlag]

Hey! I am glad I am not the only music person here. There are only few music postings so I get really excited everytime I find one. It is so tiresome to wait for results.. I already got a rejection from University of Wisconsin-Madison which was sort of my safe pick. Well.. obviously it was not. I called two of the schools I applied last week (Northwestern and UIUC) and heard the decision will be out early next month. Oh, I am applying for Ph.D. in Musicology, by the way.

[ozmusicbird]

hurrah! I too have applied for Musicology PhD programs (and 2 masters for good measure). So far heard back good news from one masters program...but it can take up to 3 weeks for stuff to be mailed all the way from the USA to Oz so I think I am in for a long wait! Good luck! Let me know how you get on.

[MusicalFlag]

Hey, that makes two musicologists already! Congratulations on the good news! Definitely getting a rejection for the first notice does not help you to wait patiently. I will keep posted as soon as I get other results. Good luck!!!

[ozmusicbird]

I had THREE rejections before getting news of my first admit... so I can relate a bit. It is frustrating! Are you currently in the US? Lots of "local" students seem to get information sooner than the average international student...makes me wish I had given the mailing address of a friend who lives over there! Everything that comes here goes via Frankfurt! (Which is not really the right direction when trying to get to the southern hemisphere).

[SuzR]

Hi, I'm the one who was asking about Penn State, thanks for filling me in on what's happening with you - I'm still waiting to hear from them...If they're not letting you know about funding til April/May, does that mean they're not following the April 15th deadline for letting them know if you're going to go there?! I thought all colleges had that deadline, so people can compare offers?

To everyone else out there, has anyone heard from NYU or Columbia for Musicology (or any music program!)? And do those colleges normally email decisions? It seemed that way for Columbia for other programs.

[MusicalFlag]

To ozmusicbird, yes, I am an international student living in the US. I got my master's here but for some reason obliged to apply to different schools- mainly because everybody does that here (even my prof. encouraged me to do so). I did not know the mail goes through Frankfurt to Australia! Hmm.. it sounds like they are taking the longest route.

I think the schools release the results over the phone to international students.. I should try not to bother them too often but thinking of calling them sometime this week. In addition, I am checking the application status page almost EVERYDAY!

Hey! Another musicologist! That makes three of us. Good luck to all!

[ozmusicbird]

To SuzR - yes I also applied to NYU and Columbia...both dream schools... I don't expect to hear from either of them before mid March. I believe Columbia posts stuff (I am an international so that means waiting for ages) and NYU I think might email around Mid March.

Penn State doesn't seem to be sticking to the famed April 15 deadline for telling them your decision - in an email they said I had until May 2...which is a bit of a relief (although here's hoping I actually get to make an informed decision)...

Best of luck - three musicologists now! Wow! Soon we will be beating Art History (doubt it)

[SuzR]

I empathise with the long wait for mail to travel overseas! Although I think it means the admissions people don't mind quite so much if you call them, and some will make an effort to then email you a copy of what they mail.

NYU says mid-march on the GSAS website, but some other people from that school have already heard and been offered McCracken fellowships...

Good luck!

[Quarex]

My girlfriend is a choral conducting M.M. applicant right now, so I will just come in here and pretend to be her.

No, but she has had a pretty interesting time flying all over the stupid country (and Canada!) for auditions. You musicologists are lucky. I bet none of you spent $3,000 on flights and hotels as a result of your applications!

[ozmusicbird]

I beg to differ!!! I flew to the US from Australia for interviews/meetings during my annual leave, missed out on three weeks of pre-christmas gigs (ie income) and being with my family over the holidays. I know that conductors do get a rough deal though - an Australian friend has been in the US for 6 weeks now waiting to find out if he has made it to a further round in the auditions and basically has to be a sitting duck until they send him home... only to return five months later for a degree that he probably will have to fund himself. I think we all pour our hearts, souls and bank balances into the application process. I know I did. By the way, only US$3,000 would have been great. I wouldn't still be in debt if that had been the case. Hello - "exchange rate" !!!

Good luck to your gf.

[SuzR]

ozmusicbird (& anyone else who's applied to NYU/Columbia!) -

I posted this on the results wall, but just to repeat here, I emailed the NYU GSAS about an address change & they said the departments should be making decisions from late feb - march, and then the graduate school will send letters out by mid-late march. They stressed to me that they won't release results via phone or email, but you can call the music dept to check if you haven't heard by late March/early April (but don't call before then...) Personally, I reckon the music dept will prob email accepted students, given that there are so few. Though rejected students will then prob have to wait for mail...

As for Columbia, I saw an ethnomusicology person has been accepted from here and have heard of someone else that's been accepted for musicology. I haven't heard anything, so might call later this week if still no news.

Oh & I got into Penn State:) Congrats to everyone else who's been getting good news.

[ozmusicbird]

Hi SuzR,

congrats on Penn State!

Thanks for the updates on NYU and Columbia. April feels like a long time away! Let me know if/when you hear from them... or if you are brave and call Columbia... please do post it on the forum!

Has anyone else out there heard from either of the "Manhattan musicology Meccas" ?

[SuzR]

Rejection from Columbia:( And judging by this evening's gradcafe results posts, the GSAS did a mass emailing today...hope some other people here got good news from them.

[ozmusicbird]

me too. And to soften the blow I received a postal response in the negative from Harvard (I was expecting both rejections ... but still - two in one day?!)

Good luck to everyone else out there... did anyone apply to CUNY graduate center? I didn't and am regretting it.

[Sikus]

[erased]

[Loxias44]

Yo -- Another music person here... Why aren't there more of us trying to get into grad school?!?

I applied to UCSB for Musicology. I swear I have an ulcer that is growing larger each and every day. I know one of the Musicology professors out there (I'm in Minnesota now) from my undergrad work and I've been in contact with him for a while. He told me way back in November or December that I was in the fortunate position of having him on the adcom so that he could let me know unofficially as soon as a decision was made -- perhaps as early as February. Now, it's on the tail end of March, and I still haven't heard anything. I just emailed the Grad program assistant for the music department last night asking when they hoped to have all decisions made, but I haven't heard anything back yet.

Anyhoo, just sitting here at work trying not to let the ulcer get any larger... :shock:

[caribou]

Heya... musicologist(again) & performer

I'm going to be near the NY area next year... anyone else?

[Bass_on_Treble]

I see there's a lot of musicologists here...any theory people by any chance? I'm in an MA program currently and applying for PhD programs in the fall...

(Sorry the post is short and maybe a bit off topic, I'm new-ish)

[SuzR]

Anyone heard anything from/about BU?! They're taking a while and I'm not sure if they're just being slow with rejections/waitlists or if they're actually still deciding! Also, does anyone know what their funding's like? Caus I'm sitting on a nice offer & doubting I'll get the same from them if I got in...

[Loxias44]

I don't know about BU, but I'm kind of under the impression that a lot of music programs still have yet to notify people. I haven't heard a peep out of UCSB yet, and they follow the April 15th deadline like a lot of schools. I would think that they'd at least let those rejected / wait-listed know that they have been so they might consider other options, but nope!

[ozmusicbird]

Re BU admit decisions - I emailed the grad admissions guy on March 10 explaining that as an international student, I would appreciate hearing my decision via email rather than waiting for snail mail. He replied that I should contact him in 2-3 weeks as no decisions had been made yet. So I contact him 3 weeks later (Monday) and received apologies - but they haven't yet decided. Does BU adhere to the April 15 deadline?

What other schools are people still waiting on? I haven't heard from NYU so am taking that as a no, BU...? Anyone have any details regarding SUNY Stony Brook?

SuzR - congrats on your well funded offer! Where? I have no idea about BU funding. Anyone know anything about this?

Good luck everyone -

[Loxias44]

So I'm guessing a number of you other music folk have heard your decisions by now, good or bad.

I still have yet to "officially" hear anything. You may have seen some of my other posts about not hearing anything back from UCSB for the longest time. Well, I heard "unofficially" yesterday. Apparently the musicology department is very small and only admits grad students if they can provide full support. They only accept one or two students per year. I heard back from a professor that I had been in contact with since September and he told me that they had extended an offer to another applicant, but that this applicant had been stringing them along for quite some time.

I guess that means that I'm on some sort of an unofficial wait list as I was told that should this person decline the offer, then a spot would be available for which I'd be a contender, but it didn't look likely.

I'm still a little frustrated because I've been given this small glimmer of hope and I know deep down there's a chance, albeit very very small. Yet, I'm still in limbo. I haven't flat out been rejected, but I haven't been accepted either.

So, this next week is going to be particularly trying as I hope and pray that this other person declines this offer.

I'm surprisingly not as bummed out as I thought I would be if I didn't get in. I never really expected to be a top contender for this school, but I still had my hopes up there. I realize that it's maybe not meant to happen this year. I firmly believe that everything happens for a reason, and maybe this isn't in the plan for my life at this stage. It's just another waiting game, I guess...